British Opt for Dictatorship and Censorship

April 8, 2019 (EIRNS)—With the U.K. rapidly descending into chaos, with no solution in sight to the Brexit debate, and with their attempted coup against President Donald Trump falling apart, the British government has decided to launch a censorship program of astonishing scope against any and all online news and commentary websites which do not conform to the government line. Theresa May issued a video this morning to announce the “Online Harms White Paper.” “Online Harms” is a term created to include anything which challenges the official line, especially against its demonization of all things Russian.

The purpose, they claim, is to make the internet “safe” for the poor British subjects who cannot see for themselves where the truth lies. “Illegal and unacceptable content and activity is widespread online, and U.K. users are concerned about what they see and experience on the internet,” the executive summary asserts. While they give passing reference to protecting children from predators and countering terrorist recruiting sites, they do not hide their primary intention:

“There is also a real danger that hostile actors use online disinformation to undermine our democratic values and principles.”

“This White Paper sets out a programme of action to tackle content or activity that harms individual users, particularly children, or threatens our way of life in the U.K., either by undermining national security, or by undermining our shared rights, responsibilities and opportunities to foster integration.”

“Other online behaviours or content, even if they may not be illegal in all circumstances, can also cause serious harm.”

The new policy is aimed at creating an “online environment where companies take effective steps to keep their users safe, and where criminal, terrorist and hostile foreign state activity is not left to contaminate the online space.”

Who, then, is to determine which websites or news reports are “disinformation,” or which “undermine our democratic values”? This is the language we have seen on a daily basis in the U.S. to justify the anti-Trump hysteria against imagined Russian “meddling.” It is also the language of the military intelligence operation in the U.K., called the Integrity Initiative, which has now been exposed, through a major leak, of running covert anti-Russia campaigns through their networks (“clusters”) in the mainstream corporate press across Europe and the U.S.

The White Paper reports that the government “will establish a new statutory duty of care to make companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users and tackle harm caused by content or activity of their services.” An “independent regulator” will oversee and enforce the policy, with the power to impose “substantial fines” on companies and individuals. [Emphasis added.]

The government has given until July 1 for comments from companies and individuals. Then Big Brother takes over.